Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 2-0 Eastleigh

[GBJ]

I hope not. Bridge is a good player. The one who should be concerned is Coker, also a decent player but he rarely influences a game.

Miley too. If Moreton continues in this vein of form, I think he offers more than Cav, who for the record, has been immense for the past few years.

 

[Jacob Sladder]

I echo everything said so far in terms of a great performance and result against a team I suspect we all felt would be a major challenge. Our crosses (and there were sooo many) were sublime and we played the ball so well in THEIR half. None of that ****ing around our own area on goal kicks.

BUT I have seen no mention of the fact that, whilst the club is on a more solid financial footing now, should the league dictate that players have their full name printed on their shirt one of our new signings could mean a huge hit on club funds
On the positive side, any one of you chant composers who wish to laud Mr Pepple in song would do well to use Supercalifragilisicexpialidocious as a basis.

 

[barton west]

Our media team is as quick as the side.
A reply in less than 20 minutes!
"Thanks for your email.
"The direction of the coverage is not done by the Club, but we have passed this message on to National League TV and their associated producers and we hope it will be rectified on Saturday.
Many thanks,
Southend United Media"

Most camera operators would lose it after climbing up that ladder in the rain. Could well become an Olympic sport.

 

[Jay_SUFC]

With all the nonsense around the club in the club over the last 2 weeks the importance of last nights game seemed to forgotten by most of us. Those of us who prefer RH under lights instead of England on the sofa were thoroughly entertaining evening.

Top work rate, control, possession and some lovely football to watch. Both keepers saved certain goals and were kept busy. It certainly wasn't a 2-0 first half, fizzle out to not a lot second. All that mattered after H/T is to make sure you don't concede before 60 mins. We achieved that nicely then pushed on and as so many have said if it had ended up 4-0 that could not have complained.

First shout goes to Pepple on his home debut. Tough gig on your own up top and after Saturday I was concerned he might not have the nous to use he weight and strength enough. Credit to lad as he made sure the defenders didn't have a cosy little evening. Even created his own chance by good work in the second half but didn't quite strike his shot properly.

Following on from Saturday, Morton looks like the man in the centre. Amazing what the apprentice can achieve when the master carpenter has day off. Ahead and free to do what he does best was Moncur. Any team needs leaders and he leads by example. Good players always have that half a second and with eyes in the back of his head he really is the Boss on the ball.

Now I'll let you into a secrete. I never really liked Kensdale. Not strong enough in the air and would turn his back and make himself smaller when blocking shot. also I can forgive the odd mistake but not letting a keepers kick bounce in front of you when your a CB.

People would say to me but he is really good bring the ball out from the back. So what, your job is to defend and make sure their number 9 has a bad day at the office......Ladies and gentleman, I give you Adam Crowther.

Anyway who needs any 20 a season strikers when you have Brazilian wing backs. Lovely move and numbers in the box for the first goal. From where was I couldn't see the hand ball but it did come from the best corner we took that half and great time to make it 2-0.

Well done to all those that showed up. The lads will be buzzing this week and all looking forward to Saturday. So should ever Shrimper. Make sure your at the Hall.

I would have rather watched Southend, but the bar in Málaga only had the England game on

In regards Kensdale, I thought he was a good player, but never as good as some made him out to be.

I accept players make mistakes at this level, but he had howlers in him and seemed to be down to lack of concentration. So though it's disappointing to lose him, he's not irreplaceable.

I actually thought Lomas looked more promising and it was a shame about his injuries.

 

[Leigh_Seasider]

Confidence was the difference last night. Confidence on the ball, to make forward passes. Many have criticised the 'sideways-backwards' style and passing to Collin but last night was how it should be done and how Kev wants it done. If it's passed back it's then recycled quickly, so we can go again. It's got a purpose to it when it works well and it helped that Eastleigh gave us space.

Morton helps in the 'recycling quickly' as he's more forward thinking than Cav and quicker on the turn .. but we do lose that tough tackling presence. Different teams will present different challenges and we're building a squad who can cope with it all.

 

[onceknownasrab]

Confidence was the difference last night. Confidence on the ball, to make forward passes. Many have criticised the 'sideways-backwards' style and passing to Collin but last night was how it should be done and how Kev wants it done. If it's passed back it's then recycled quickly, so we can go again. It's got a purpose to it when it works well and it helped that Eastleigh gave us space.

Morton helps in the 'recycling quickly' as he's more forward thinking than Cav and quicker on the turn .. but we do lose that tough tackling presence. Different teams will present different challenges and we're building a squad who can cope with it all.

Good comments. I was one of the many that criticised the sideways-backwards style and it still persists but at the level required, mixing it up. Also, unlike Miley, Morton is not glued to the CBs hip and when he loses the ball it is higher up the field and not offering an immediate goal scoring opportunity. We have lost the spine in Kensdale, Miley and Cardwell and oddly look better. I believe that is mainly due to an enforced shuffle that has pleasantly surprised the coaches and additions like Moncur who has been a revelation. I think we have long had a team that can play close to this way but it wasn't, then, the chosen way. Everyone is learning, players and coaches.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Miley too. If Moreton continues in this vein of form, I think he offers more than Cav, who for the record, has been immense for the past few years.

One of the challenges managers have is being able to move on from loyal servants and move the team forward.

Losing Kensdale and Cardwell has forced Maher to evolve the team sooner than I think anyone anticipated; will be interesting to see how he deals with the Morton/Miley situation, particularly as Morton is the player who most resembles Maher as a player since our head coach was playing.

 

[Supa Shrimpa]

Really good performance last night. I echo everybody else's comments. I thought the opening header from Ralph, where he towered above the winger set the tone. It showed that we were bang up for it, and after that, we took the game to them and put in 3-4 really good crosses. Amazed how well the new lads settled in. I suppose a good coach and good players can do that. Big well done to John Still, if he's the one that scouted them

 

[OrangeyBrown]

Great performance and win.

We're going to have a real selection headache with Morton and Miley. I think Morton is brilliant at the base of midfield, a bit Maher-esque. But he's less effective when pushed into a higher midfield position to fit Miley in.

Bonne looked very dangerous when he came on, and Pepple was always running and hassling. Positive signs.

 

[Texas Eslan]

Brilliant performance last night. I wonder if this is us now seeing the performance and ambition that Maher has always wanted from his teams but has had to temper in order to manage a limited squad? If so then this could be a fun season!

 

[* ORM *]

Miley too. If Moreton continues in this vein of form, I think he offers more than Cav, who for the record, has been immense for the past few years.

Is this another new signing?

 

[bazzashrimper]

I hold my hands up on Bim … last night he led the line really well and looked like someone who is older than he is, so apologies on the typical write off after 1 game.

Shaping up nicely with some more to come in soon

I did the same. He was excellent last night. Would like to have seen him get a shot away at the and of that 60 yard run though.

 

[Supa Shrimpa]

I did the same. He was excellent last night. Would like to have seen him get a shot away at the and of that 60 yard run though.

I think he was shattered and had about 4 players round him by then, so I think he decided to stick !

 

[WhiteNoise]

It's not just as simple as "good opposition" = Miley, "weak opposition" = Morton. For me is about tempo. Miley is a superb player, and someone who could comfortably play a league higher. However, for me sometimes I don't see him looking to increase the tempo. I think this was a key difference against Oldham and then last night, where Morton encouraged one touch passing and Eastleigh were chasing shadows a lot. Oldham struggled against this and even when we took the lead on Saturday Morton was still moving the ball forward quickly and often, but we couldn't quite get a 2nd and then our legs started to run out.

I think Morton's off-ball/defensive work is very underrated, especially when he doesn't have Miley where he naturally wants to be. He is physical and good in the air, and his positioning means he's often in a good place to break play down but then also quickly transition into attack.

What worked a lot last night was the "third man run" and Eastleigh just couldn't pick this up. We played triangles around them all evening and Morton rewards teammates making off-ball runs with the pass that they deserve for their hard work, which kept the tempo and energy up. If players are making the runs but don't get the ball, then quite quickly they decide not to make those runs any more, and you end up with a slower tempo and deeper and more laboured play. Miley can be guilty of this, looking to turn and switch quickly, which in itself is a good tactic but means we not as dynamic through the middle (drawing the opposition in so Ralph and Gus have space out wide)

Good problem to have going forward, and I expect both Miley and Morton will be really important players for us this season

 

[Evening Echo]

SOUTHEND United boss Kevin Maher was happy to hand Macauley Bonne his Shrimpers debut last night.

Read more on this story


Help with Echo links

 

[flangejackrabbit]

It's not just as simple as "good opposition" = Miley, "weak opposition" = Morton. For me is about tempo. Miley is a superb player, and someone who could comfortably play a league higher. However, for me sometimes I don't see him looking to increase the tempo. I think this was a key difference against Oldham and then last night, where Morton encouraged one touch passing and Eastleigh were chasing shadows a lot. Oldham struggled against this and even when we took the lead on Saturday Morton was still moving the ball forward quickly and often, but we couldn't quite get a 2nd and then our legs started to run out.

I think Morton's off-ball/defensive work is very underrated, especially when he doesn't have Miley where he naturally wants to be. He is physical and good in the air, and his positioning means he's often in a good place to break play down but then also quickly transition into attack.

What worked a lot last night was the "third man run" and Eastleigh just couldn't pick this up. We played triangles around them all evening and Morton rewards teammates making off-ball runs with the pass that they deserve for their hard work, which kept the tempo and energy up. If players are making the runs but don't get the ball, then quite quickly they decide not to make those runs any more, and you end up with a slower tempo and deeper and more laboured play. Miley can be guilty of this, looking to turn and switch quickly, which in itself is a good tactic but means we not as dynamic through the middle (drawing the opposition in so Ralph and Gus have space out wide)

Good problem to have going forward, and I expect both Miley and Morton will be really important players for us this season

I think it's also that Moncur's cute movement is opening up space for the others to make runs into. It could well be that we see the same when Moncur and Miley are on the pitch at the same time...

 

[RHB]

A thoroughly nasty night, England on the telly, work tomorrow (today), the match on NLTV, and a cost of living crisis. Well done to the Eastleigh fans who made the journey.
Have been there and its a decent club with an impressive stadium.

I don't doubt that for one minute, but that wasn't the point of my post. I was highlighting (obviously clumsily) the disparities between clubs in our division, and still thought there would be more away fans given their current form.

 

[Gt Yarmouth Shrimper]

I've not seen anyone really mention it ... But

GUBBINS!

Ive been really impressed with him recently! Solid defensively especially after a shaky start, but the way he has been getting involved in the attack and providing an option on the overlap

I feel like he's going to become one of those unsung heroes

At the first game vs York, I mentioned to the person next to me that Gubbins looked good and will soon get up to speed. He was really impressive last night.

 

[Blues4LifeDan]

I think it's also that Moncur's cute movement is opening up space for the others to make runs into. It could well be that we see the same when Moncur and Miley are on the pitch at the same time...

This is such a valid point. Bridge was targeted by 2, sometimes 3, players last season, because he was our only outlet. Fans got on his back for not 'producing' and that we only went down the left. Moncur is now taking those players out of the game, which is freeing up space for Bridge and Husin to flourish. Gaps are now appearing, which weren't there last season. Just think how much more we can hurt teams when Bonne and Walker are firing too.

 

[stewart]

A thoroughly nasty night, England on the telly, work tomorrow (today), the match on NLTV, and a cost of living crisis. Well done to the Eastleigh fans who made the journey.
Have been there and its a decent club with an impressive stadium.

give it time and it will become even more impressive